EARLEY town councillors have expressed concern that Reading Buses is to merge buses that run in Lower Earley with a route that runs into Caversham Heights.
At their planning meeting, held last month, the councillors said that the proposal had been tried a number of years ago, as a route 20, but due to traffic issues it was impossible to run properly.
The council said that increase in the volume of traffic since then could result in the proposed service suffering the same fate.
A spokesperson for the town council said that the recent Route 12 (previously 19A/C) timetable changes have already resulted in a reduced number of buses to Earley/Lower Earley, especially during the rush hour period, and Councillors were concerned that this new timetabling could result in a further reduction of bus services to the area.
A Reading Buses spokesperson confirmed that there will be some minor changes to route 19 to Lower Earley from Monday, February 19 and full details will be published shortly.
They added: “We can confirm that the route will also be combined with Caversham Heights service 22, but with a revised timetable to help with reliable operation.
“There will be no fundamental changes to the service received by customers on the traditional 19b route, therefore this isn’t a matter that the company would run a consultation on.
“Reading Buses is working hard to sustain the operation of marginal services such as the 22 and 19 and in the current economic climate this sort of efficiency is essential in the company being able to maintain a service on these routes.
“The company will do all it can to monitor the punctual and reliable operation of the combined route and exercise operational controls to address any major issues when operations are live.”
